Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-07-30
IN A FRENCH PAwNsHoP.
Going Through the Whole Experience of Pledging-Proving Ones Identity.

Pledging-PrOving Ones Identity.
 A person curious to see something of the working of the Paris Mont de Piete can do so without pawning any of his property. He can mingle with the crowd whom necessity or vice has brought there without risk of being questioned by off, cials or being stared at inquisitively, for every one is too intent upon his own busi- ness to give any thought to others. But to obtain vivid impression of the differ ent circles of this inferno it is necessary to go through the whole experience of pledging and redeeming. No one who did this once could possibly wish to re- peat the experiment. The lazar house or the prison can alone offer parallel to the depressing influences of the Mont de Piete.
 We will take for illustration the one in the Rue Bonaparte, which is an offshoot to the parent house ill the Rue des Blancs- Manteaux, but which is itself vast enough to quarter a large body of soldiers. It is entered from the street by an archway, over which hangs a dirty tricolor. A sentry is also posted as further token of authority. The passage leads to a court surrounded by buildings which are the offices and storehouses of the Mont de Piete. Those who come to pledge single out the door on which the word "En- agreements" is painted. It leads to low room. so dimly lighted that on entering the details cannot be distinctly seen. The floor is paved with tiles and the walls and ceiling are almost black with dirt. The cir is dense, stifling and malodorous. There are twenty or thirty people waiting here-some standing, others sitting upon benches placed against the walls. All are silent, or they speak under their breath. At least half of them belong to what may be termed the respectable working class; others wear all the signs of abject misery and vice; others, again, belong to the impenetrable, well dressed class, re- specting whose positionfn life only guesses can be made.
 At the opening through which comes the glare of the lamp is counter, toward which people make their way as they en- ter. On the other side of it man in a blouse appears every few. minutes, takes bundle or box that has been placed on the counter, gives metal number in ex- change for it, and disappears. The per- son who has given up the article he has come to pledge waits attentively until he hears his number called out by somebody whom he does not see, but who is on the other side of a wooden partition that serves for one of the walls of the room. At the same time this official calls out the amount which the Mont de Piete is pre- pared to lend upon the article or articles which correspond to the number. The owner sometimes gruMbles at the sum offered, but the almost invariable reply is "Bien, monsieur" The functionaries do not condescend to bargain with the crowd in the waiting room, whom they treat as If they were paupers applying for relief.
 The sum having been agreed to, it may be supposed that the money is then paid over the counter and the business ended. Not at all; such plain and straightfor- ward proceeding would be contrary to the most sacred traditions of French of | fcial practice. Much formality has to be gone through and much writing to be done before the transaction is complete. Meanwhile the applicant has to wait half an hour or even an hour, if there are mary people before him, until he hears his number called out again. He now pushes open a swinging door in the wooden partition, and follows a railed passage which brings him into the pres ence of two sutly clerks sitting behind a counter. One asks questions and makes entries in huge book, and the other fills up the pawn tickets, which are sheets of paper closely printed and written over, and pays the money. The applicant must state his name, address and profession. Then he must show papers to prove that he is telling the truth. If it should hap pen that he has not brought with him the receipt for the last rent he paid, or some other document to prove his identity, he is sent away without the money.-St. James Gazette.